Richmonds of the World

Strategic Call to Action!

The Richmonds of the World must Change the World!

Please join Richmond, North Yorkshire, Richmond upon Thames, London, and Richmond, Virginia in Richmonds of the World!

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Why Richmonds of the World?

Mankind is at a crossroads – The ultimate set of crossroads; crossroads with implications for every living person on the planet, every living being, and all of creation to come; crossroads requiring significant changes in direction by significant numbers of people for an infinite amount of time starting now!

Critical decisions must be made – The world has never offered more opportunity for individual and collective advancement, but at the same time, the world has never faced so many challenges, natural and man-made, that seriously threaten our collective future. While creating opportunity, mankind neglected the basic laws of sustained existence – Support Community and Respect Environment. It is time for serious change!

Global problems require global solutions – The problems we face are global and the solutions must come through the collaboration of all the citizens of the Global Community.

The 91 Richmonds of the World represent a Global Community Capable of Affecting Serious Change through Collaboration!

The First 1000 Years of Richmond – The name of Richmond, meaning “strong hill”, has traveled the globe for almost 1000 years, starting with the Norman Conquest in 1071 when the first Richmond in Yorkshire was named, adapted from Richemont, in Normandy. The market town of Richmond grew up around the Norman Castle that was situated on a very strong hill. The name traveled again in the 1500’s when a community west of London known as Sheen was renamed Richmond. The second Richmond was also home to a very strong hill, now called Richmond Hill, as well as home to Queen Elizabeth I, and the place where she died. On May 24, 1607, Christopher Newport and a collection of English Settlers landed at the Falls of the James River in the New World called Virginia, the day the concept of another community named Richmond was born. In 1737 the third Richmond was officially named for Elizabeth’s Richmond, because it also is home to a very strong hill with a view of the James River remarkably similar to the view of the River Thames from Richmond Hill.

After six hundred years and three Richmonds, the name quickly started to spread, in large part fueled by America’s westward expansion and Great Britain’s colonialism. Richmond Texas is named for Richmond Yorkshire, home to the Duke of Richmond, who also inspired the names of Richmond Ontario and Richmond Quebec. Richmond California is named after Richmond Virginia, as is Richmond Kentucky, Richmond Missouri and quite possibly Richmond Utah. Richmond British Columbia is named for a Richmond in Australia, although it is apparently unsure which one. Possibly it is Richmond New South Wales, named for Charles Lennox, the third Duke of Richmond, who was also the inspiration for the name of Richmond Massachusetts and Richmond County Georgia, home to Augusta and an up and coming golf tournament called The Masters. Another Richmond County, also known as Staten Island, was one of the hardest hit communities from Hurricane Sandy. Formally known as the Borough of Richmond, Staten Island is also home to Historic Richmond Town, New York City’s living history village and museum complex.

The incredible variety of links between the Richmonds of the world is only surpassed by the amazing number of places called Richmond, which is the most named place on the planet! At last count, 91 communities on 6 continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and South America) are named Richmond or have Richmond in their name, including 56 communities in the United States, 10 in Canada, 5 in the United Kingdom, 5 in Australia, 2 in New Zealand, 3 in South Africa and communities in Grenada, St. Vincent, Jamaica, India, Fiji, Guyana, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. The seventh continent, Antarctica, is home to Richmond Peak, the culminating peak of the Toney Mountain massif.

Ushering in the Second 1000 Years of Richmond – As we approach the end of the first 1000 years of Richmond, the world has changed dramatically and is currently facing a set of environmental, health, social and economic challenges that threaten the possibility of a second 1000 years of Richmond. The global community has officially arrived and forevermore all citizens of the Earth must heed the directive “think globally and act locally”. Thinking globally is easier said than done because most people, wherever they live, have little or no connection to the global community. Connecting the Richmonds all over the world is one way to immediately create a global connection for the 2.5 million Richmonders across the world.

Richmonds of the World – Pathway to Formation – On May 24, 1981, Richmond Virginia and Richmond upon Thames, its namesake in England, formally became Twin Cities after decades of cultural interaction. The Twinning relationship between the two Richmonds has grown to involve many diverse elements of each community, including the arts, schools, business, government and sports to name a few. In 2007, Richmond and Virginia commemorated 400 years of history since the landing of English Settlers at Jamestown in 1607, with help from Richmond upon Thames and England, including a visit by Queen Elizabeth II. Heightened involvement between the two Richmonds in 2007 led to the creation of the concept of Richmonds of the World, a global community building initiative using the power of our connected past and our name Richmond to help shape our collective future, and the future of all mankind. In 2008 a delegation from Richmond Virginia visited Richmond upon Thames and the two Richmonds formally announced the formation of Richmonds of the World. The foundation for the Richmonds collaborative was made complete in 2009 when efforts were connected with Barclay Simpson and Richmond, Yorkshire – the original Richmond – which had long promoted the many Richmonds of the World.

Richmond = Magnificent World – Richmonds of the World has been conceived as we prepare for the second 1000 years of Richmond, and in honor of this new beginning Richmonds of the World will embrace a modern 21st century definition of Richmond grounded in our historic past – Richmond = Magnificent World, from riche, Middle English, “having great value or worth, magnificent” and monde, French, “world”. By working together through Richmonds of the World, Richmonders across the globe will affect a magnificent world for each community of Richmond, and for the global community of Richmond.

2010 thru 2019 – The Decade of Richmond – Back in 2009 the three founding Richmonds declared the 2nd decade of the 21st Century to be The Decade of Richmond based on the power of their global community plans and the series of socially important international events to be hosted by Richmonds. In February 2010, Richmond British Columbia helped Vancouver host the Winter Olympics and still enjoys their Richmond Speed Scating Oval. From 2011 to 2015 America commemorates the Sesquicentennial – the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War and Emancipation – with the eyes of the world on Richmond Virginia as “the Capital of the Confederacy”. In 2012, Richmond upon Thames and the rest of London hosted the Summer Olympics. In July 2014 the original Richmond, Richmond North Yorkshire, was the venue for the start of the Tour de France. And in September 2015 cycling was prominent again as Richmond Virginia hosted the UCI World Cycling Championships. All this in just the first half of the Decade of Richmond – it is certainly a very special time to be a Richmonder!

Richmonds of the World – The Richmond Rule – The first three Richmonds invite all other communities around the world named Richmond to join Richmonds of the World (ROTW) using the following membership qualification, The Richmond Rule – all communities named Richmond or with “Richmond” in their name are eligible to be a Member of Richmonds of the World. It has been determined that based on The Richmond Rule there are 91 different communities of Richmond around the world.

Richmonds of the World Global Initiatives – The ultimate goal of the Richmonds of the World international community collaboration is to enhance the quality of life in each community of Richmond through its connection to the global community of Richmond. Towards that end, three (3) Richmonds of the World Global Initiatives have been crafted to provide a platform for the Richmonds to connect and start to collaborate, with a focus on three elements of life that are important to every Richmonder across the globe – education, public safety and sustainability.

ROTW EDUCATION INITIATIVE – From the beginning the concept of Richmonds of the World has been seen as offering a unique opportunity to enhance the education and social development of students and adults by providing a direct portal to the global community. Global awareness is an important component in any academic pursuit and the ROTW Education Initiative intends to offer educators many ways to infuse a global perspective into their curriculum and daily activities, taking full advantage of widely available internet and communication technologies. This initiative will focus on citizenship and helping students in Richmonds all over the world become world citizens by getting to know one another, and then caring about one another. Students achieve at higher rates when they care and ROTW will enable students to develop a growing level of caring about Richmonders and their communities around the world. The initiative will highlight leadership, civic engagement, creativity and innovation within the context of a global perspective and will rely on the direct involvement of students and teachers in its development.

ROTW PUBLIC SAFETY INITIATIVE – While the many Richmonds of the world vary in size, population and other details, each community of Richmond has a strong interest in maintaining the highest level of public safety for all its Richmonders. The ROTW Public Safety Initiative will work to connect the public safety communities of all of the Richmonds in an ongoing conversation so that we can learn from each other and help each other in times of need. The first phase of the initiative will be the development of the 3R2 Project which intends to invest and involve Richmonders in an ongoing community risk reduction effort for their community of Richmond. The 3R2 Project also focuses on citizenship and promotes citizen awareness and training to prevent fires and other emergencies from happening, and how to properly respond if and when they do.

ROTW SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE – Mankind has finally come to realize that the world is all connected, with more and more people starting to understand the powerful message of think globally, act locally. Sustainability is a process that enhances quality of life with minimal impact on our natural environment and is best planned from a global perspective. The ROTW Sustainability Initiative will connect the many Richmonds in a collaborative effort that involves sharing information and ideas while investing and involving Richmonders to become more active in sustainable practices. The initiative will lead to the creation of a virtual entity called the Richmond Institute of Sustainability and will commence its efforts by highlighting the importance of rivers and our collective water supply, as almost all of the Richmonds have a river or important body of water that they depend upon.

Richmonds of the World – Global Collaboration Objectives

1) ROTW intends to enhance the quality of life in each Community of Richmond through each Richmond’s interaction with the global Community of Richmond.

2) ROTW intends to place a special emphasis on positively impacting our youth, strengthening their understanding and connection to the global community.

3) ROTW intends to accelerate the development of a global community capable of affecting serious change through collaboration, especially as relates to our collective environments – natural, social, cultural and physical.

4) ROTW intends to use the power of the collective past of all the Richmonds to positively change the future for all mankind.

Richmonds of the World Community Building Opportunities

1) Richmonds of the World offers each individual Community of Richmond a unique, fun and exciting vehicle to use to engage its citizens in community building activities and events designed to build the local Richmond Community through interaction with the Global Richmond Community.

Connecting Richmonders with Richmonders in other Richmonds far away helps to create new connections between Richmonders in the same Richmond.

2) Richmonds of the World offers each individual Community of Richmond a wealth of educational opportunities for Richmonders of all ages, especially our youth.

3) Richmonds of the World offers each individual Community of Richmond an opportunity to learn from other Communities of Richmond that have similar resources, problems, concerns, attitudes, configurations, climates, etc.

4) Richmonds of the World offers each individual Community of Richmond an opportunity to learn from other Communities of Richmond that have different resources, problems, concerns, attitudes, configurations, climates, etc.

5) Richmonds of the World offers each individual Community of Richmond a direct link to the Global Richmond Community and an opportunity to collectively discuss the many common elements of life all over the world and to confront the many serious issues facing all mankind, including: